Is President Obama lying about opposing gay marriage?

hose of us who view gay marriage as a slam-dunk, open&shut
equal-protection issue don’t need to rely on any precedent.
The 14th amendment says that “no state shall … deny to any person
under its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”.
If there is a man whom my sister can marry but I can’t,
then we are not equally protected, so the state’s treating us
that way is unconstitutional. END of discussion. Or at least it ought to be.

Couples as opposed to individuals are a little more complicated because “deny to any person”
does not say exactly the same thing as “deny to any couple”.
It is hard, though, to deny the couple withOUT denying either or both of the people in it — SO hard that when that FINALLY (in 1968) reached the Supreme Court, in Loving v. Virginia, they dismissed
the claim that bans on inter-racial marriages did NOT violate the equal protection clause — because white people and black people were both equally prohibited from marrying someone of the opposite race — with extreme prejudice.

See Is President Obama lying about opposing gay marriage? Daily Kos

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How Far Will Mormons Go to Fight Gay Marriage?

If a gay marriage question is put on the California ballot in 2010, it will put the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at a seriously interesting crossroads.

It has been three or four decades since the Mormon Church chose a low profile in American politics, after its opposition to the Equal Rights Amendment, and theological hostility to black Americans, spurred an anti-Mormon backlash. The Mormons are among the most persecuted of American sects, and highly sensitive to criticism.

The church’s low-key strategy seemed to work. There are still some Mormon-haters in evangelical Christian

circles, but for the most part the Mormons are accepted and admired, and church membership has soared. Mormon politicians like former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman are regarded by mainstream America as legitimate presidential timber.

Mormon watchers were surprised, then, when the church hierarchy took such an active role in the passage of Proposition 8 in California, limiting marriage to a man and a woman. Gay Americans were surprised as well. They didn’t expect the church to embrace gay marriage, but neither did they predict that the Mormon Church would emerge as a resolute and politically-active foe, whose support for Prop 8 was perhaps determinative. Some of the resultant anti-Mormon rhetoric has been vicious.

Now that Prop 8 has been upheld by the California Supreme Court, gay rights groups say they will put gay marriage on the ballot in California again, and mount a full scale effort to win public approval, perhaps as soon as 2010.

That will put the ball back in the church’s court. The family is at the center of Mormon theology. But the national political trends are running against the church. Younger Americans—even young evangelicals—are more than willing to see their gay friends get married.

Opposing gay marriage in Utah (as the church did in 2004) is one thing, but taking a lead public role in a national campaign to deprive a persecuted minority of a right shared by all other Americans is another. It would be seen as a sign that the days of low-key tactics are over, and that the current Mormon leaders are prepared to give, and get, the political bruising that occurs when religion mixes with politics in America.

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Woman wanting to give Obama a letter opposing gay marriage is removed from airport press area

A black woman writer fromGeorgia newspaper who wanted to give President Barack Obama a letter opposing gay marriage was forcibly removed from a press area near Air Force One on Thursday shortly before he arrived at the airport.

She identified herself as Brenda Lee, a writer for the Georgia Informer in Macon, and said she is a “Roman Catholic priestess” who lives in Anaheim, Calif. She said she has White House press credentials.

Since when does having “White House press credentials” entitle a ‘reporter’ to hand deliver letters to a head of state?

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Pastor Warren: I love gays

(Long Beach, California) Under fire for opposing gay marriage, influential evangelical pastor Rick Warren says that he loves Muslims, people of other religions, Republicans and Democrats, and he also loves “gays and straights.”

The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 on the …

Pastor Warren: I love gays

The 54-year-old pastor and founder of Saddleback Church in Southern California told the crowd of 500 on the …

Illinois civil union bill appears to be stalled

A proposal to allow civil unions in Illinois between same-sex couples has been stalled in the state legislature and seems likely to stay that way, as gay rights activists Wednesday plan nationwide “Day Without a Gay” rallies to protest California‘s Proposition 8 and other measures opposing gay marriage.

“This is going to be focusing on the economic aspect of what the deprivation of equal marriage rights means to our community,” said Andy Thayer of the Gay Liberation Network in Chicago, which is planning a rally 11 a.m. Wednesday outside the Cook County clerk’s office.

The demonstration to highlight pensions and survivors’ benefits in Chicago occurs as the future of the Illinois Religious Freedom and Civil Unions Act grows uncertain. See Illinois civil union bill appears to be stalled
Chicago Tribune